Manuel De La Torre Swing

Subsonic

We talked about it a bit here: https://golfbuzz.com/d/7099-golfbuzzers-outing/69 I feel it deserves its own thread, so here it goes.

I have been practicing with MDLT swing my last few rounds and it really shows promise. Shots are straighter and the swing itself seems to have less moving parts.

1) I love the swing thought of throwing the club over your right shoulder.
2) The simplicity of it is awesome.

SMT

Subsonic I worked with Mr. DeLaTorre at a PGA Business School in Orlando. The man and his methods are truly special.

sdandrea1

Gracias, amigo!

Par4QC

sdandrea1 I've been trying the RDSS swing the past couple seasons. And it does stink.
Maybe I'll switch.

Sarnella

Whatever. you do -- DO NOT try the sarnella swing

Subsonic

I am researching/validating the MDLT swing for adoption as the official teaching doctrine of the Last Tee.

I feel the simplicity will be an asset to Geezers.

Martee

"Throwing the club over the right shoulder" seem to become a repeating theme for those advocating senior swings, easy swing, even body friendly swings. Along with this comes folding of the elbows and having loose wrists, none seem to include, they actually exclude forearm/hand/wrist rotation,.

Subsonic

Martee Yeah. It works too. I feel not manipulating the club face with the hands and forearms helps to keep the ball online since the chance of hitting the ball with an open or closed face is reduced.

Sneakylong

Bob Brue was a disciple of Manuel De La Torre (Ernest Jones, body reacts to the arms swinging the club) from Milwaukee and was a great golfer in his own right. Here’s a gem from 1994. Put a lot of teaching absolutes to bed in a humorous way. Fun watch.

SMT

Sneakylong Ernest Jones was a genius.

ptjn1201

I have his book somewhere -- have to find it. If you go back through those 100 best teacher lists, he never jacked up his prices, despite all the acclaim. I saw some of his videos, came across as a good guy.

Sneakylong

Manuel De La Torre is a disciple of Ernest Jones and Percy Boomer. The late Jim Flick was an advocate of this as well. The idea was that the arms swing the club and the body reacts to the swinging of the club. More feel than mechanics.

This is how all other throwing sports are played. It really is nothing revolutionary. There are several current teachers basically teaching this. Two that come to mind are Mike Malaska and Milo Lines.

Subsonic

Sneakylong It is swinging a golf club. There is nothing new under the Sun.

rsvman2

Sneakylong Milo has gone off in the complete opposite direction in the past few years. He calls his stuff 'Athletic Motion Golf' now and one of his main tenets is that the hands and arms should feel like they are doing absolutely nothing.
So I would definitely take him off the list of teachers that adhere to these teachings.

pellmell

Sneakylong The idea was that the arms swing the club and the body reacts to the swinging of the club. More feel than mechanics.

This is how all other throwing sports are played

No, baseball is a prime example that this is not true.

Sneakylong

Subsonic

Yup, true of most anything. Nothing new, only history we’re ignorant of. 😉 One thing to remember is Ernest Jones lost his right leg below the knee during WWI. So he learned to swing with his arms.

If you ever want to test Jones’s, Boomer’s, De La Torre’s or Flick’s arm swing theory try hitting a driver while on your knees.

It’s an all arms swing. No weight shift, no hip turn, no ground forces stuff. And you’ll be surprised how far and straight you hit it. 😉

Sneakylong

If you watch Bob Brue’s video he uses an iron and it looks like a tennis ball on a rope roughly the length of the iron and swings them in unison. Says it’s not easy to do.

The point is you need to have a good tempo to be able to do that drill. Swinging just a rope accomplishes the same. I would think an orange whip would work as well.

Brue says something I haven’t heard before with an arm swing. He says you swing the club with your upper arms.

garyt1957

Sneakylong Brue says something I haven’t heard before with an arm swing. He says you swing the club with your upper arms.

That's pure MDLT

Subsonic

For those of you that use the MDLT Swing for the driver, what ball position do you use? Center of stance?

Sneakylong

Subsonic For those of you that use the MDLT Swing for the driver, what ball position do you use? Center of stance?

Yes for all clubs except wedges. Wedges I play back of center.

Sneakylong

garyt1957

Yup. Swing the clubhead with your arms. Again, Brue was influenced by De La Torre who was influenced by Ernest Jones. Brue's video makes a mockery in a funny way of what many teachers teach.

Of course I'm sure all of the swing the clubhead with your arms advocate teachers going back to Boomer, Jones, De La Torre, Flick, Brue etc.. all had exceptional hand eye coordination.

scotts33

Since I worked for Manuel at Milwaukee CC from 1959 - 1966 in the caddie system I have a lot of Jones/De La Torre swing opinions. This is also why I got involved in clubmaking, still walk to this day single strap "stick" method as he taught me, plus the one thing besides being centered and on balance is Manuel's targeting. 95%+ recreational golfers do not target accurately on average.

I have posted this video many times this is the biggest takeaway if you are new to Manuel's teaching.

And for those that believe it is all hands and arms based swing watch some old video of Manuel we all use our lower body in the swing otherwise you would be stationary over the ball and be an arms swinger which is death to the golf swing. Maybe semantics......take the club back with your hands swing thru weight on front with arms. That's his tenet. Balanced centered golf swing.

pellmell

scotts33 believe it is all hands and arms based swing watch some old video of Manuel

It's feel vs real. Any instructor with common sense should know this.

scotts33

Bobby Brue and I were friends until his death. Shorewood, WI own and proud of his east side Milwaukee upbringing. One of the best ability golfers to be able to pull off a shot I ever knew. He led the 1st Round of the 1961 US Open many don't know how good he really was as they think of Bobby as a trick shot artist.